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Ageing fleet to be replaced

The new Kouga Council is working on a five-year plan to replace redundant vehicles in the municipality's fleet.

Kouga Municipality’s ageing fleet is threatening to bring service delivery to a standstill.

A shocking report, tabled to Kouga’s new Mayoral Committee on Friday (14 October), reveals that only 4% of the municipality’s vehicles are in a good condition and fully operational. This amounts to only eight of the 220 vehicles in the entire fleet.

Kouga Executive Mayor Elza van Lingen said the ageing fleet was one of the main reasons service delivery had reached critical levels across the region.

“The new leadership’s investigation showed that 58 vehicles in the municipal fleet are no longer in operation at all while a further 14 need to be replaced urgently if service delivery is to continue,” she said.

“These redundant vehicles include waste compactor trucks, TLBs, sewer tankers, bakkies and tractors that are all essential to service delivery.”

She said that it would not be financially justifiable to repair the redundant vehicles.

“The cost of keeping these vehicles on the road has gotten completely out of hand over the past few years and has been placing enormous strain on the municipality’s budget for repairs and maintenance. We will, therefore, be tabling an item to Council recommending that the redundant vehicles be put on auction,” the Mayor said.

According to the report, the cost of replacing the 58 vehicles will total R21,5-million.

“We are currently putting together a replacement plan for the entire fleet, as no such plan was in place under the previous Council. The plan will run over five years and the acquisition of vehicles will be prioritised according to service delivery requirements,” she explained.

“We have also reached out to big motor dealerships in the Kouga area and they have agreed to help us assess the fleet. This will allow the new Council to make informed decisions about which vehicles need to be replaced, which vehicles can be repaired and which vehicles would need to be replaced in the medium term.”

She said the new Council would also be beefing up the municipality’s workshop so that more repairs could be handled in-house.